Read one Irish entrepreneur's blog as she operates a business in Dublin
Gombeens on Laptops
November 21, 2004
"When it comes to banjaxing computers at work, Irish workers are without equal..We spread viruses, let in hackers and write passwords down on desktop Post-It notes. Then, when our email-released internet viruses bring down the office network, we blame the IT department, Microsoft or eircom."
So says Adrian Weckler in his Sunday
Business Post column. Novell carried out a survey of Irish office workers and the results show us all up as a bunch of gombeens on laptops. Or PC's. Or tablets.
Some of the results of the study:
- 1 in 10 office workers write down their computer security password on a
Post-It note and stick it on their desk - 1 in 20 writes it down 'somewhere else'
- 75% say they wouldn't be worried if they personally spread a virus - this,
despite claiming that viruses are 'the number 1 security risk' - 20% say they wouldn't 'be bothered if a virus hit their desktop'.
I can vouch for those numbers - it's true. Office workers in Ireland are generally not that concerned with their computers. They are well used to being spoon-fed about all things 'IT related' from their IT Help Department. Many of them "know people in IT" but wouldn't have a clue about the various roles within it.
I was one of those people.
A whizz on Word, Excel and Powerpoint (hey I've been using Excel since version 1), but only vaguely aware of the difference between hardware and software. I knew how to get results from my computer, but only when it was working smoothly. I was reliant on good relations with the IT helpdesk to perform my role effectively.
No disrespect to me or anyone like me, that is merely the way that IT has been structured for many years. They are the ones with the knowledge. They can make things happen. But in an environment of increasing viruses, worms, and spyware, IT departments are unable to handle the onslaught. We can't rely on IT to protect us from everything out there in the big bad world. We must begin to take responsibility for our computer and take a few basic learnings in keeping its engine running. In the coming days, I will share a few of these with you.
Consumerist Christmas
November 10, 2004
There's been a lot of talk in the media this week about how awfully consumerist Christmas has become in our little country. I have to say, I agree.
Newspapers are reporting how tough it is on parents who are only just over the expense of Hallowe'en and now the poor little children of Ireland are being exposed to 8 weeks of waiting for Santa.
On this, I'm a little sceptical. Hallowe'en doesn't have to be a big expense. Whatever happened to making a costume with bits and pieces around the house and buying a few apples and nuts for games? (Am I totally out of touch with things here, as a non-parent?).
But I agree that the run-up to Christmas is getting longer every year. I feel a little guilty that I'm a part of this - being exceptionally busy on Christmas gift campaigns that went live last week, the first week in November.
I'm getting away this year to Australia, and I must say, it's much less consumerist down there. The pressure to have new Christmas clothes, go out and get drunk every night for 30 days, to buy everyone who you've ever remotely had contact with a large present, and to eat yourself sick on Christmas Day just isn't there.
Instead it'll be shrimp on the barbie. The agonising choice of what bikini and sarong to wear. And plenty of swims on the day.
Don't Close Bewleys
November 06, 2004
I had a meeting yesterday that needed to take place near Grafton Street. Prior to last Friday when Campbell Catering announced they would be closing the Bewleys Cafes, I would have probably chosen to meet in any number of small, new funky little cafes in that area. It simply would not have occurred to me to meet in Bewleys.
Why not?
Well I just didn't associate it with good coffee. I thought of self service trays and pots of tea for 1. Sticky buns but "they're not the same as they used to be"...
I suggested meeting my contact there yesterday. Like most Dubliners, we're all feeling a bit nostalgic that Bewleys is closing down. Everyone has their Bewleys memory.
For me, it's the morning after the Trinity Ball in 1st year, lots of bedraggled looking students perched over full Irish breakfasts (if you're a boy) or one of the lone pots of tea previously mentioned (if you've got such a bad hangover coming on that you can't stomach any food).
Bewleys of Westmoreland Street was also a place where I chose to meet various dates. Again, during the college years. When you'd need to go somewhere where you wouldn't bump into loads of people you know, but which was suitably private in case things turned out positive.
In later years, when I returned to the new economic miracle that was Dublin from London, this time armed with an early edition mobile phone, a City attired boss, and a briefcase (yes, I carried one!), it was to Bewleys that I took my boss to get a taste of Dublin.
The problem in recent years has not been that Bewleys has locked itself into Dubliner's memories. No, the problem has been that it is most certainly not positioned in the Now. When you're running a business that depends on footfall, that's not sustainable.
I put it down to a badly defined product offering. I've heard tales of Bewleys serving Asian vegetables and noodles. My own memories of sausage and chips. Plus older ones of tea and sticky buns. Campbell Catering, to be fair to them, have tried a number of different ways of marketing the cafes. But the mistake they made is that they've left residue of each marketing effort hanging around and diluting the current offering.
Bewleys Cafes have simply not been properly advertised. Yes, I think their agency should be rounded up and shot. I am not aware of a single ad for Bewleys since returning to Dublin in 2001. Sure if something had registered, I would have wandered in out of nostalgia's sake. Then, hopefully the products and service would keep me there, and lo - a frequent customer I would become.
Did I mention too that property on Grafton Street is the 5th most expensive shopping street in Europe? That must be quite attractive to Campbell's management too. "Ah well lads, we haven't been able to market them properly. Let's just sell up and make a killing." And it's back to hotels and bags of coffee for Campbells.
If they sell the Bewleys Cafes I don't think they should be allowed to keep the brand. The cafes and the brand are synonymous in my mind.
Negative remarks aside, yesterday was a perfectly lovely experience in Bewleys. We were shown to a table for 2. Two steaming apple and cinnamon scones, a latte, and a hot chocolate were delicious. The atmosphere was olde world, but not dated. And there was a long queue to be seated when we were leaving!
Now, does this mean that the little scare we all got last week has doubled or even trebled the traffic through Bewleys? Does this mean that perhaps management will rethink their exit strategy and give the old institutions another chance?
If so, my advice is to fire the marketing team, round up the advertising agency and be done with them. Poach some executives from successful and growing coffee outfits like O'Briens, Insomnia, or dare I say it: even Starbucks.
Don't close Bewleys. We've learned the lesson. We ignored it and we shouldn't have. Now let us keep it.
Bewleys is for life, not just for pre-Christmas - I hope!
Nifty Christmas Gift
November 01, 2004
From Brightspark - who else?
It's 1st November and all my clients who sell to the Christmas market are revved up and ready to go. Some of this has worn off on me and I too have my Christmas offering available on my site.
"Quick I can't wait - what is it?"
It's unique, it's innovative, reusable every Christmas and is completely free!
It's your very own Christmassy Logo - for use on your site, this year and every year. Brought to you by Brightspark.
We can't begin to compete with the Big Boys when it comes to aged cases of wine, smoked salmon, chocolate truffles, and other Christmas fare. Instead we give the gift of uniqueness! You simply choose your Christmas look, and request us to jazz up your logo.
Jakob Nielsen, the usability guru who knows a thing or 2 about these things reckons that it makes a website more connected to its user's happiness, and of course makes it current too. The guys at Google are always at it - sexing up the GOO in GOOGLE to match what's happening in the world. Hmm, wonder if they'll have anything US Presidential Election related on Wednesday.
So now it's your turn. Click the link below, choose your logo, and we'll get back to you before the end of November with your Christmassy logo.
"I'd like a lovely Christmas logo please"
Why so soon?
Because there's no point doing a Christmassy logo if you're not going to put it on your site until mid December now is there?
And because Brightspark is heading off to Australia for Christmas and New Year. Much as we love you, we won't be lifting our SPF smeared body off the white sand of Byron Bay Australia now will we?
Would you?